Is Joe Torre going to Texas? They have reportedly indicated they want him, but why would he go to a perennial dud? (Well, aside from the oodles of loot that Tom Hicks can throw at him.)

First, of course, he has to get fired from the Yankees, which sounds like it will happen any minute now. Despite his team's dud over the past six postseasons, his legacy is still secure.

MLB LDS: Cards eliminate Padres, head to NLCS to face the Mets. I was at Shea a few months ago when the Mets came back from that deep hole to clock HR after HR (to counter Pujols' HR frenzy) and win. Mets in 5.

"Pulling a Haynesworth" appears to be the new NFL trend: It's when a defensive player does something totally stupid.

This week, Antrel Rolle is the new Albert, tackling Larry Johnson by the facemask. Let's start the suspension bidding at 2 games.*

(After all, LJ *is* one of the NFL's top fantasy stars.)

MNF: Broncos at Ravens. Time for Baltimore to learn what the Pats learned: That Denver, at home, is tough to beat.

Is the NBA going back to the old ball after all the complaints? That's where it seems to be headed, and it just shows the type of influence the players can have. (Spalding comes out looking terrible.) So, let's review: The old NBA ball is the new NBA ball?

College Football Weekend Review:Top stud: Florida QB Tim Tebow: The true freshman (and backup) accounted for 3 TDs, including a double-clutch floater in the lane at the goal line, to lead Florida over LSU and up to the No. 2 spot, vacated by...

Top dud: Auburn, which lost its "controls-own-destiny" spot in the national-title race after choking at home on national TV by double-digits to unranked Arkansas.

Did you catch Garrett Wolfe, the Northern Illinois shadow Heisman candidate, last night? You know you're having a Heisman-type season when 162 yards and 2 TDs is your WORST game of the season.

82 comments:

Yes, this NYY team was suppose to go to the World Series. With the greatest offensive line-up in the history of baseball. But lets not forget that they got beat by a team that was only two games back. Which also had the best pitching in all of baseball.

Great pitching will always beat great hitting. Thats all that happened here, the Tigers pitching was better than NYY Hitting. I wouldn't call that a choke job, and I certianly wouldn't call that pathetic.

Untill you add in the fact of $80,000,000 vs $200,000,000 in payroll... Then you could probably call it pathetic.

Dan, WTF? Remember when it was "so much more powerful if you make your point once"? It little profits a man to keep making the same half-baked, unsubstantiated pronouncements about Michigan's ranking worthiness.

I'll ask again: why not Michigan at #2? For a well-developed analysis, see my comments on this earlier post (#40 and #41, pretty far down; the really long ones). Unfortunately, I didn't get involved in that discussion before it was too old; I've been in downtown Detroit too much this weekend.

As far as that detnews voter... the USC move is... I can only say, "puzzling." But a guy who has recently lobbied to jump Florida over OSU probably needs to think very carefully about accusing anyone of "ridiculous homerism." Cast out first the beam out of thine own eye, dude.

Im as big a homer as they come and I really want to put the gators at #2 I just don't feel comfortable until after next week. When we win next week I think we should be a legit contender for #1. That first half was almost as ugly as me, my sister and my mom put together. (not like they will ever read this) Still a win is a win. It just sucks that auburn and ga had to lose this week which will hurt our strength of schedule. Oh well. I kinda hope we get arkansas in the sec champioship game. We need to destroy more top 25 teams to prove we are the best.

As for my other team the bucs, Gradkowski looked really good the more I think about it. I wouldn't be suprised if we lose every game and we only win our showdown at soldier field in decmeber. I have given up hope for anything except playing the spoiler this yr. I hope we can beat the bears only so I can shut my girl up. Im tired of hearing her play her 45 of the super bowl shuffle.

Maybe it didn't come across as well on TV, especially with Joe Buck yapping on and on...but the Linc at the Dallas/Eagles game was rocking...That sounds cheesy, but having sat in there for four hours, my ear drums were pounding. The atmosphere was electric at the end of the game, reminding me of the NFC Championship Game in 2004/5. Did you happen to catch the first Dallas series? False start, incomplete pass, botched punt...

They need to lose GM Cashman, not Torre. Cashman only knows how to spend money. And he only gets hitters and washed-up Randy Johnson. He was the one who overspent on A-Rod. Torre can't make them hit the ball any better, and Torre can't help the pitchers throw strikes.

Based on his record, he's a good manager who's getting bad luck in the playoffs. So cut #13.

Having said that, maybe it IS time that Torre moves on (Lord knows I'd be sick of George if I was Torre). But PLEASE not Piniella. He's a clown! If we can't get the guy from the Red Sox or White Sox, then offer Torre anything he wants! He's worth it in karma alone!

Dan just thought I would gloat about your ridiculous prediction of Iowa St. beating Nebraska. I will admit Iowa St. got hosed on the TD they ruled incomplete but the way Nebraska was running the ball reminded of 1995. The match up with Texas could be interesting if Callahan decides to open up the playbook and play to win instead of playing not to lost like he did against USC.

I find it amusing that Texas would be looking for him. Do they think that the Showalter-to-Torre sequence is normal in the process of building a champion?

I find it weird that teams would want to use the exact same replacement for a retread manager. (See: PJ Carlesimo following Rick Adelman. I *SO* wanted him to end up in Sacramento!)

I think it's also kinda the same thinking that makes teams think they can recreate history for themselves. Like Dallas....putting in Romo is not going to fix the Cowboys, but hey, replacing Bledsoe worked once before. (It didn't work so hot in Buffalo, though.)

And as a yankee-hater, I for one will enjoy being able to watch the ALCS again this year without the angst that comes with watching them in it. And with Buck and McCarver destined (St.L, NY) to do the NLCS (can someone confirm this?) it should make it just a good series to watch.

This is an example of why noone should worry about rankings until after Thanksgiving weekend. Don't forget that either Michigen or Ohio State has a GUARANTEED loss when they play eachother. If Florida is still undefeated by then, they'll be #1 or #2. So don't worry about the current ranking. Worry about Auburn.

Here's this week's ladder rankings. Note: This is instantaneous ratings based on wins and losses so far this season. It is NOT biased in any way, and doesn't take into account what a team SHOULD be. This is only what a team is RIGHT NOW.

Ahhh...Dan Dan Dan. 5 weeks in a row. Victories by 21+ every single saturday. Which team am I talking about? You guessed it, Cal. Primetime Saturday night game against Oregon. More than half the country picked Oregon. But what happened on that foggy night in Berkeley? Cal just took them out to the woodshed and beat them like a redheaded stepchild. Was there on mention of it anywhere in your columns? No. And I'm not counting your karma boomerang comment because that takes away everything that Cal did on Saturday. So, suck it up, take it, and give a team it's just due.

Also, how in the hell did you not include New Orleans' Colston in your Unlikely Star section at WR or even TE (since that's how he's listed on Yahoo)? He's been an absolute stud the entire year, even more productive than Reggie Bush.

Why does West Virginia get no love? I was watching College Football Final on Saturday night and they are talking about Florida, USC and Michigan, it is like they forgot that West Virginia is all unbeaten and in the TOP 5. Why can they not be considered the #2 team in the country.

For years, I've wondered why everyone thinks Joe Torre is a great manager. Sure, he won a few World Series. But stick him with the Devil Rays and let's see what he does. Or, even stick him with the teams he had before he got an unlimited bankroll and see how he does. Joe Torre did not win any World Series. George Steinbrenner won them.

Somebody had to make up for the two #1 votes West Virginia got from California.

West Virginia doesn't belong in the Top 5; I think #8 is actually a pretty good call. By the way, the ballot you posted had them at #8, not #7. Since you seem to have missed that.

Here, in analogy, is "Why not?": If Michigan had only played Central, Eastern, Northern, and Western Michigan, plus Marshall and West Carolina, and Ball State, I would not allow anyone to make the argument that Michigan belonged in the Top 10, even if UM had beaten each of those teams by 70. And if the Wolverines had struggled against any of those non-top-tier schools, I would just hide, rather than whine in public about being ignored.

I'll be watching the Louisville game; if WVa can beat them convincingly, I'll be convinced that they belong in the Top Ten. Elsewise, enjoy that new BCS bowl.

well, the funny thing is that George Steinbrenner *hasn't* won any world series in the last 6 years. The yanks weren't ridiculously overspending back when they were winning. Now they overspend and they don't win. Kinda like the days of Dave Winfield and Rickey Henderson.

I'm not sure Torre's a fantastic manager (he sure does blow out his bullpen every summer), but ya gotta admit, the yankee clubhouse is nothing like the bronx zoo of the 70s....he's usually given credit for keeping the ship steady in *that* respect.

Here's what they won't do, but I'd laugh my freakin' ass off if they tried.....Say to A-Rod, we're making you our shortstop, so you can relax. Then say to Jeter, we made you captain, and it hasn't worked. We're shipping YOU off to Anaheim, where you can battle Orlando Cabrera for playing time. Of course, Jeter's a 10-5 guy, so it ain't happening. But if you wanna stir things up, THAT'S how you do it! :)

Yeah you make some sound points. It's just nerve-wracking at the same time. Ever seen "Any Given Sunday"?. It's the regression to the mean theory. I mean if PSU plays very opportunistically and we, God Forbid, make one too many mistakes --- with the new clock rules, things can get messy in a hurry.

My point is I'm not worried per se. Just not as comfortable as I would be if we were playing a cupcake like Indiana or even Northwestern.

Yeah true, true. Puzlunsky (PSU # 31) is a pretty solid linebacker. But otherwise their defense, at a closer look, is a little overrated. I mean they play the same defensive plays a lot. They are a little predictable. I'm watching tape right now to analyze. Lots of 4-3 up the middle blitzing. Secondary seems weak

Most likely you'd have to have some absolutely EPIC game between OSU and Michigan, for the loser not to suffer the typical "drop in the polls" that comes with losing.

In addition, all the other undefeateds would need to lose, and preferably lose late.

I know what you're saying, though. If you're really the #2 team in the country, why would losing to #1 make you less worthy of #2. That's why you'd have to see some sort of 1-point nailbiter, or triple-overtime fluke ending....where voters (since the polls still make up the majority of BCS points) don't want to punish the loser too much.

(I'm reminded of Duke's 2nd championship team in the early 90s....they were like 20-0, #2 was 18-2 or something. Duke lost, but still was #1 the following week. Although in football, it's more likely to have another 0-loss or 1-loss team ready to "ascend to the throne".)

Another bit of conventional wisdom might be like this. Let's say Ohio St. does barely barely beat Michigan. Well at year-end, the thinking could easily be: "You had your chance and lost, Michigan. Now we're going to give undefeated USC or WVU or UF a shot at the Buckeyes, instead."

Well Shanoff is a good guy. He posts this blog so he can have an outlet and people and listen but then when we all write he seldom responds. I mean Tebow is not even top 20 with Heisman voting. Putting Tebow in as Heisman top 5 is ludicrous.

happened once on the xbox for me, don't see that happening in reality.

If OSU beats Mich 7-3 and OSU is the only top 25 team with no losses, then you can make the case for Tex or Mich to go. Problem is, it is better to lose early rather than late in the CFB polls, so that would kill Mich's chances.

Manningham, do you have inside info I don't know? Are we taking a dive to save L.Carr? :)

Being at the game it was insane in the dome when Reggie Bush ran it back, but he himself said it best when he said anyone could have run that punt back, the blocks were there and T.B. was on the wrong side of the field during the punt...

like Josh above I agree while Bush is a great asset, Marques Colston is the star rookie so far for us this season, hes extremely reliable and consistent as a wide receiver so far.

Bush actually looks better catching passes in an open field so far when hes got room to move, as a RB he still trying too much to go left and right before going forward; he'll be better and better the less he runs backwards and sideways on returns and runs.

(2) Michigan enjoys "BCS title-game play-in" status, meaning: As long as they keep winning (and OSU keeps winning), their game against each other will determine one half of the BCS title game.

That's no matter what happens in the SEC or Pac-10 or WVA-L'ville. Sure, if Florida runs the table and wins the SEC (and SEC title game), they'll have a spot, too. Well-earned, but absolutely no guarantee.

And, by the way, a MUCH rougher road than either Ohio St or Michigan have remaining. All they have to do is win out, then win the de facto Big Ten title game against each other next month.

So stop griping, Michigan fans: You essentially get the chance to play your way into the BCS title game using one single game, which is a lot more than any of the other contenders can say.

Anyone remember Dan's prediction last Monday of Padres in 4 games? I said then, as I say to his Mets in 5 games prediction...prepare to eat those words.

Don't mess with Pujols.

My only concern is that Carpenter will not get to pitch 3 games of the Series because of having to pitch game 4 of the NLDS. If he could have thrown games 1, 4 and 7, the Cards would be set up much better.

As much as I hate to admit it, the Cards are relying on (gulp!) Jeff Weaver for perhaps two quality starts.

Dan , your post is one of the reasons why there should be a 4 or 8 team playoff. It also shoots holes in the idea that the regular season is a de facto playoff, considering the varying conference strength and the fact that playoffs should yield more definitive results then 3 or 4 unbeatens at the end.

That being said, I doubt Florida runs the table, and the championship will be USC vs the winner of TheOSU and Mich.

I always like this idea that the SEC is so much better than the Big Ten, when every year in bowl games the Big Ten is no worse than tied with the SEC head to head. And actually a bit ahead of I am not mistaken. Meanwhile, Florida has lost 3 of it's last 4 bowl games it has played against Big Ten opponents.

No way in hell USC wins out. Not a chance. They just aren't that good. Which is something I'm trying hard to reconcile with the beating they gave Arkansas. The Arkansas-Auburn-USC-Wash St. quadrangle is a great indicator that the regular season just doesn't work as a de facto playoff. Hell, sometimes the Big 10 season doesn't work as a de facto conference tournament, and that's only 11 teams, not 119.

Thanks for weighing in, Dan. That's fair, oughta be enough to shut us up (at least the logical/sane ones among us).

I'll take UF at #2, for now, and hopefully we can see UM and UF fight it out on the field at the end of the year (unfortunately, no RonZookery to derail UF's last chance desperation drive this year).

As far as B10/SEC comparisons go, I think they're pretty similar this year. My previous comments (link in Comment #2 on this page) demonstrated how dubious I think Auburn/LSU/Georgia are this year. In fact, I'd say UF already beat their toughest competition down there, in the Vols.So, the Big Ten and SEC schedules are both loaded with "stumbling block" games, but not monsters, up until UM-OSU. That means if a team can make it through without... stumbling, they deserve a trip to the title game.

Anyway, Dan, you make a good point - UM has complete Destiny Control here, so let's take it easy on the poll watching, eh, Manningham's-left-and-right-brains?

Speaking of which... this is the worst news I can imagine reporting, but my high school buddy (and now UF alum) tells me people say Super Mario's knee might not be ok for playing this weekend. That would blow.

I also wanted to throw in that I'm going to take my foot off the accelerator on my constant Top 25 ballot-harping.

Wasn't one of my fundamental Quickie platforms that college football's regular season is, itself, a de facto playoff?

Every week is win-or-go-home (or "survive-and-advance," if that's your thing). It's crazy to argue over who is 2 or 3 or whatever...

...Not when there's an underratedly elegant system in place to winnow a field of 100-plus teams down to a half-dozen in a span of a few weeks...

And, ultimately, to whittle THAT group down to 1 or 2 (or, sometimes, 3) by the end of the season. This is why the SEC is so grueling: It's so difficult to go through the season (plus a title game) unbeaten. Though Auburn did it a few years ago and got totally screwed by the BCS system (bitterness reserved for another day).

The only REAL debate happens if (or, as I'd argue WHEN) there are more than 2 teams left unbeaten by the end (or, alternatively, 1 unbeaten and several once-beaten or, alternativey, zero unbeaten and several once-beaten).

I just like harping on the ballots because I think that most voters have no business being in charge of who our national champ might be.

chris maher~ Cool recruiting link. I found my nephew (kind of??) that is red-shirted freshman at Iowa. Hope he doesn't start acting like Drew Tate...spiking the ball when he's not getting his way, etc. LOL I doubt he will. He's a good kid.

Call me when your rankings aren't based on last year's results, but instead on a team's actual performance this year. What has Texas done? Lost big-time to (your) Big Ten team, and beaten a number of... Big XII teams?

If Texas is better than ND, freky's poll will reflect that... after Texas has proven it on the field by winning all the rest of their games, and ND has lost another one.

And besides, he was just listing the Bottom Ten, using perhaps the only system that can provide a good bottom ten (or Top 35 for that matter), since NOBODY watches enough Troy games to rank then above or below EMU (yay Ypsi). Besides, Angelique from detnews.com would rank Florida #116 and screw everything up.

If you'd been paying attention, ever, you would realize that those ladder rankings are based on what teams have done this year, since the season started. If Texas hasn't played their real tough games (except OSU) yet, they haven't done much. Wait until December, and I bet freky's results will be hard to argue with.

I'm sorry if it's hard for you to deal with a system that doesn't require potshot preseason premises to rank 25 teams.

Wow, thanks john for backing me up on the ladder rankings. I'm glad someone else finally sees that the ratings reflect exactly what has been done on the field this year. The fact that Ohio State, Florida and Michigan are only 46 points apart from top to bottom, yet USC at #4 is 47 points behind Michigan, and Louisville at #5 is 101 points away from the top shows that currently all 3 teams are VERY strong and until one of them loses it will stay that way.

The rules are quite simple:1) All teams begin the season with 1000 points. (A level playing field)2) Winning a game versus another team results in gaining 100 points, minus 10% of the difference in points when subtracting the losing team's rating from the winning team's rating. If the difference is negative (meaning the losing team had the higher rating) then the points are added instead.3) Losing a game versus another team results in losing 100 points, minus 10% of the difference in points when subtracting the losing team's rating from the winningi team's rating. Again, if the difference is negative, the points are instead added.4) Division I-AA teams count as having 0 points for the purpose of calculation.5) Defeating a team by 21 or more points is considered a strong victory and results in a bonus of 15 rating points. The losing team is not penalized for this.

I got the idea in the first place, I just thought you were throwing it at everybody when it didn't make any sense to do so (before you had enough data to mean anything). Also, I wasn't sure about how the BS (not a 'BCS' typo) conferences would skew your figures (you know, like the Big XII...).

But one has to admit, with about 50% of precincts reporting, your numbers are starting to shape right up. I'm just shocked that USC isn't in the Top 3. Oh, wait. No. That's not what I am at all.

@john (ann arbor, mi)I fully agree. I was mostly just really excited to have actually put together the system properly (yes I wrote code, it's in C#) and right at the start of this season that I tossed it out for viewing WAY too early. I won't make that mistake again. It really shouldn't be displayed until 6 weeks are played (meaning it should have been FIRST released this week). So please everyone pardon my over-exuberance.

@brienYou asked where Northern Illinois ranks of the 119 teams. The code I wrote only puts the teams in order of the top 25 and the bottom 20 (I only gave the bottom 10 earlier), however:

Northern Illinois has a rating of 1079, which should put them slightly above middle.

That is actually correct. If both Ohio State and Florida win their games, Florida will be #1 next week with a rating of 1629 (or 1644) and OSU will be #2 with a rating of 1608 (or 1623). The reason for this is Michigan State's 3 losses giving them a rating of only 978, while Auburn's rating is 1328.

Ohio State can reclaim the top spot the following week at Indiana, even though their current rating is 908, and Indiana is likely to lose this week to Iowa, which will give them a rating next week of 846.

Florida has a bye next week and will not be able to keep up with Ohio State, if they are able to win the next 2 games. Florida will also likely be passed by Michigan for the same reason.

Connect With Me

Quickish

About This Blog

DanShanoff.com is a sports-blog spin-off of my long-time ESPN.com column, "The Daily Quickie." Anchored by an early-morning post of must-know topics, the blog is updated frequently throughout the day with new posts and user comments.